"If you don't want to pay attention and learn in my class, you are free to do so. But to interfere with the learning of others is an unforgivable crime."
He lashed and whipped Loki three times for good measure. Slav was very satisfied with this, so his scowl turned into a smile of satisfaction.
As for Loki, he took the beating without crying. He had used his arms to protect his face and eyes, so the whip had cut three deep, bloody grooves into his arms.
This kind of beating and pain is not a stranger to him, so he was able to receive it without much emotional fluctuation. And since he was no longer a slave and didn't need to pretend to be hurt so as to make the beatings stop, there was no change in his expression. But Slav didn't like this.
The smile on the rich young man's face soured when he didn't see the expected cry of pain from Loki. So he snorted in dissatisfaction and said, "Just what I would expect from a slave. He is probably used to this kind of thing."
What he said was right, but it was wrong to say something so provocative in Muni's class. After all, Loki was just beaten for doing the exact same thing.
But Muni didn't punish Slav. He just said, "Enough talking. We have a lot of work to do."
No one was surprised by this. It wouldn't be the first time that Muni was showing preferential treatment to Slav, and it wouldn't be the last time. So they were used to it.
Many people thought that Muni's preferential treatment was unfair, though. The fact that it was normal didn't mean that it was pleasant to see.
For someone like Loki, the preferential treatment hurt him far more than the bloody cuts on his flesh. But both the physical pain and emotional pain only served to strengthen his resolve to acquire more quickly and at all costs.
Meanwhile, Muni resumed his class. He spoke to them about how to refine a Metac. Then he taught them about the skill of energy manipulation and how it is increased.
Loki paid attention to this lecture because he had only heard it once. Muni thought that this change in attitude was because Loki had just been beaten, so Muni was satisfied with himself.
Muni also spoke about the rewards for those who refine their Core Metacs the fastest. Loki is obviously the first to refine his Core Metac. He was so fast that he refined his Core Metac in the past, way before he received any Core Metac.
With his speed, if anyone is to be rewarded for how fast they refined their Core Metac, it should be him. But he didn't step forward to claim the top prize.
He also didn't step forward during class on the eighth day or any other day later because Muni would have to check their energy well to confirm that the Core Metac had been successfully refined.
He didn't think that an extra Branch Metac was worth the exposure of Fenrir, so he kept his genius to himself. Slav also didn't take the reward.
No one doubted that Slav was the fastest to refine his Core Metac. So they thought that Slav didn't try to claim the reward because he didn't care for it. Muni also thought so, which made him jealous of Slav's background even more.
Only Loki knew the true reason why Slav didn't want his energy well examined by someone else. But he kept this information to himself to be used later when necessary.
That week was spent on refining their Core Metacs and Muni lecturing on energy manipulation skill. The person who was officially recognized to be the fastest at refining their Core Metac was Lenard. He succeeded after 3 days of hard work.
Lenard claimed the first prize because Loki and Slav passed on the reward, and because Craig wasn't eligible for it due to his using his Innate Metac as his Core Metac. So it wasn't because he was the most talented or the richest in class.
The rest of the class refined their Core Metacs during the rest of the week. After the first two weeks, when the refining of Core Metacs had been concluded, they were divided into various classes based on which pathway their Core Metac was in.
So from the third week onwards, everyone had two hours of class with Muni before they were to separate into classes to have practical classes with the instructors for their pathway. This continued to be the case until the end of the month.
At the end of the fourth week of the initiation program, they were given a cultivation test. As soon as the day began, Muni made everyone line up in a straight line before an energy reader. Then he asked them to input as much energy as they could into the energy reader.
The energy reader will measure the total amount of internal energy that they can produce. The weakest four were to be eliminated from the initiation program. This was to be the test.
The energy reader is a round and translucent white crystal. The more energy in it, the more rings of light appear within it. And the higher the quality of the energy put in it, the higher the color of the rings of light, from red to violet.
As everyone placed their palm on the energy reader and input their internal energy into it, Muni stood by the side and took a record of their performance.
Everyone, including Loki, took the test seriously. After all, their lives were supposed to depend on it. Even if Loki's life didn't truly depend on the outcome of the test, he still took it seriously.
Muni was very happy with their performance. He had a big smile on his face as he watched everyone take the test. But if he was being honest with everyone and himself, he would admit that he had a more selfish reason for being happy.